Let's Get This Party Started: Top Stories for 07/09/06
Captain Jack Sparrow and his shipmates have plundered the Death Star and the "Star Wars" empire, and now they're heading full sail at Spider-Man and the truly valuable booty: the all-time biggest weekend movie opening ever.
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" took in $55.5 million at the box office on Friday, setting a record for the largest one-day take ever.
That's $5 million more than "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith" pulled in its first day to set the previous record, and with that one day alone, Disney's "Pirates" would be the fifth biggest weekend opening of the year.
But with reports of continuous sellouts and requests for added screens, plus positive tracking information, "Pirates" also looks well on its way to passing "Spider-Man 2" and its record three-day opening weekend of $114.8 million. Spidey made $38.4 million on its first weekend. "We're obviously thrilled beyond belief," says Disney distribution chief Chuck Viane. "The word ecstatic comes to mind."
Hartnett Not That Psyched About Scarlett and Wilmer
Admired and desired though he is, Josh Hartnett was apparently a little anxious about his girlfriend Scarlett Johansson hanging out with that noted Lothario Wilmer Valderrama in the Hamptons last weekend.
TMZ caught the two staying very much by each other's side at hotspots Stereo House and Star Room over the July 4th weekend, and, according to the New York Daily News' Ben Widdicombe, Hartnett continuously called Johansson on her cell phone. At one point, reports a partygoer, "Scarlett just handed her phone to Wilmer and said, 'Talk to Josh. Tell him we're friends.'" No word on the level of reassurance that this provided Hartnett.
Senator Orrin Hatch Helps Spring Dallas Austin from Arab Jail
We know all that stuff about politics and strange bedfellows, but this is something else: Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah helped secure the release of the R&B producer Dallas Austin after Austin landed himself in a Dubai jail for drug possession.
The Senator's office confirms that the conservative Republican was contacted by Austin's attorneys last week, and then called the ambassador and consul of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, DC on Austin's behalf. Though no specifics were given about how Hatch actually managed to induce the subsequent pardon, his office says that Hatch has "good relations with the ambassador and other good people in Dubai."
It also turns out, as the AP reports, that Hatch and Austin share the same entertainment lawyer, Joel Katz, and, of course, they share the bond of music: Hatch is a prolific producer of music in his own right, having written and recorded hundreds of patriotic and religious tunes himself.
Sienna Has Mysterious Emergency Dental Work on Set
Sienna Miller had emergency dental surgery on the set of her upcoming movie "Camille" after a day of rolling around in the grass with co-star James Franco.
Sources cited by Canada.com say that Miller was filming scenes with Franco on set in Toronto, wearing a wedding dress, after which a dentist was brought onto the set to look after Miller, though the exact nature of the injury and the surgery aren't known.
In "Camille," Miller plays a Kentucky woman who takes a honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls with her husband Franco, who's on Parole.
Brigitte Nielsen Weds the Same Man, Again
Amazonian warrior-actress Brigitte Nielsen has tied the knot with her fifth husband, though she just did so a year and half ago with the same guy.
Nielsen married Mattia Dessi, a former model from Italy, at the five-star Radisson SAS Golden Sands Resort & Spa in Malta on Saturday, according to PEOPLE magazine. Last year, the pair got married in the Dominican Republic, but those nuptials were nullified because Nielsen hadn't fully divorced her fourth husband.
Nielsen had been involved with gold-toothed rapper Flavor Flav before Dessi, though that relationship went no further than the requisite VH1 reality series.
Briefly: K-Fed Keeps It in the Family, Macy Gets Jamie Foxx's Attention
Kevin Federline is shopping his new rap album to labels, and he might just bestow his masterpiece onto Jive Records, according to a report in today's Gatecrasher. Of course, it just happens that Jive also has a certain Britney Spears in its stable as well...Notably placid and non-confrontational actor William H. Macy attracted the notice of Jamie Foxx recently, and not in a good way. Macy says he was filming a new David Mamet film, and when he was filming a particularly violent scene with a black character, his dialogue got a little provocative. "I get the best of him and I'm kicking the s-t ut of him screaming, You f------ n---er, how dare you' for about 40 minutes," whereupon Jamie Foxx, who was filming a TV show in a studio upstairs, started screaming, "What's going on down there!"